"[Tom] had no idea [Fire Island] was a real place. Certainly, [he] had no idea then that it was a place [he] would one day call home."

Taken between 1975 and 1983, Tom Bianchi's Polaroids of Island life on Fire Island capture a pre-AIDS sense of sexual freedom and companionship:

"That's what Fire Island was then - a fabulous party that nurtured us and sent us back out into the world as happier men."

Bianchi's partner David died of AIDS in '88, as well as many close friends captured in Tom's photographs, a fact that has made it too difficult up until now to properly exhibit or publish these intimate moments in full. With an introduction by -writer of 1977's 'The Joy of Gay Sex'- Edmund White, a limited volume of signed copies are available from Damiani publishers.

See some full size  pics after the jump: